Payment Information

Expectations for Payments

If you do not already have a IWD Debit Card, the quickest way to receive your payment during the COVID-19 pandemic is through direct deposit. After you have applied for unemployment insurance payments, your payments will take some time to be issued to you as your claim is processed. If you have elected to receive your payment by direct deposit, it can take 7-10 business days to receive a payment. If you have selected a IWD debit card and have not been issued a card before, it can take over 10 business days currently to receive your card in the mail. It is like that payments will be loaded on the card prior to you receiving by mail.

Payment issue date

The payment issue date is the date that IWD has sent a payment to your debit card or personal checking or savings. This date does not mean that your payment will be on your card or in your bank account on this day. The standard time to receive your payment on the IWD Debit Card is 3 business days aftger the payment is issued. If you have selected direct deposit, the standard time to receive your payment in your account is 4 business days.

Payment Method Options

Unemployment insurance (UI) benefit payment(s) are deposited to an Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) Debit Card or into a checking or savings account of your choice. The IWD Debit Card is valid for three years and will be used for current and any future UI benefit claims if this payment option is chosen. UI benefit payment(s) are deposited onto your IWD Debit Card three to four business days after you file the weekly claim, as long as you meet all eligibility requirements. Holidays may delay the payment.

Bank of America will not be able to provide any information to you on pending payments. If the payment has not reached the card yet, they will not have information to provide to you.

The IWD Debit Card is issued and serviced by Bank of America. The IWD Debit Card allows a secure access to UI benefit payments which include:

Access to funds 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – no bank account required

Access cash at any ATM, bank, and credit union that accepts MasterCard ®

Can use the IWD Debit Card to make purchases and get cash back from merchants

Download the Bank of America mobile app to help manage your debit card

Remember

Only IWD can update personal information with Bank of America (please contact IWD to report an address or a name change)

The IWD Debit Card account balance and transaction history is not available to IWD staff

You must contact Bank of America to order a replacement card or to report a lost or stolen card

In the unlikely event that a purchase is approved for an amount over the remaining amount on the Card, you will be responsible for the amount of any negative balance​

Avoiding Fraud

Sometimes criminals will try to trick individuals into disclosing personal information in a text, email or on a phone call. Phony emails may be directed to a fraudulent website that looks like a Bank of America website. These phony emails may even ask you to call a phone number and provide account information.

Consider the following to help you identify fraud:

Bank of America will never ask for personal information, such as your Social Security Number, Personal Identification Number (PIN) or Prepaid Card Number in an email or text

Offers sounding too good to be true often are, like if you are asked to fill out a short survey in exchange for money being credited to your account at the account number you provide (Bank of America will never request information in this way)

Receiving notification claiming your UI account may be closed if you fail to confirm, verify or authenticate personal information is also not compliant with Bank of America business standards

If you receive a suspicious email or are directed to a website that also looks like Bank of America, report it to abuse@bankofamerica.com and then delete the suspicious email.

DIRECT DEPOSIT

You may choose to have your UI benefit payment(s) deposited directly into a checking or savings account. The benefit payment is deposited four to five business days after the weekly claim is filed, if all eligibility requirements are met. Holidays may delay the payment.

Direct deposit cannot currently be added to an unemployment insurance claim unless you filed a claim after March 31, 2019. We are working on making updates to allow customers to add and make changes to direct deposit at anytime while filing for unemployment insurance. Those options should be available in the next few months.

It is your responsibility to verify the benefit payment was deposited into the correct account and resolve any direct deposit errors directly with your financial institution. IWD is not responsible for incorrectly reported routing and/or account information. Funds that are deposited into an incorrect account may not only delay your payments, but also may not be recovered or returned to IWD or you.

In an effort to safeguard sensitive information, IWD will have limited access to updating account information. IWD will not accept any paper forms to change account information. If you do not wish to update your account information online when you file an unemployment insurance claim application, the IWD Debit Card will be the default payment method.

Individuals who have a Bank of America Debit Card and wish to switch to their personal checking or savings account may experience a delay in payment until the transition is finalized.